Locations

Bethesda

Rockville

National Product Testing and Evaluation Center

5 Research Place

Rockville, MD 20850

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (FAQs)

CPSC is an independent federal regulatory agency formed in 1972 with a mission to protect the public against unreasonable risks of injury or death from consumer products through education, safety standards activities, regulation, and enforcement. We are a small agency with a large mission, and we work to ensure the safety of consumers every day.

We work to save lives and keep families safe by reducing the unreasonable risk of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products and fulfilling our vision to be the recognized global leader in consumer product safety. We do this by:

No. CPSC does not endorse or recommend specific brands of products. We provide information to consumers on what safety features to look for in products.

CPSC has offices in Bethesda, Md., Rockville, Md., and Beijing, China. Our staff is comprised of about 520 people, including about 120 investigators and compliance officers working throughout the country in communities where you live and work and at our nation’s ports.

CPSC announces recalls of products that present a significant risk to consumers, either because the product could contain a defect or because it violates a mandatory safety standard.

Typically yes. You should follow the specific guidance in CPSC’s recall announcement for that specific product to secure a replacement, repair or refund.

There is usually no end date to a product recall. Even if you don't learn of the recall for a year or more, you should follow the guidance in the recall notice the CPSC issues. Call the company at the toll-free number or contact the company through its website, both of which are listed in CPSC's news release. This information is listed in the “Consumer Contact” information on more recent recalls. If you are unsuccessful with the company, contact CPSC's toll-free hotline at (800) 638-2772 or send an e-mail via CPSC's Contact Form.

No. Each recall that CPSC announces applies only to the specific brand and model identified in the recall announcement. In many cases, the recall applies only to products manufactured and date-coded for specific time periods (e.g. brand "X", model "Y" manufactured between Aug. 1, 2010, and Oct. 17, 2012). Specific descriptions of each recalled product are given in each CPSC recall announcement.

Not necessarily. There is no one-size-fits-all remedy for recalled products. Remedies typically consist of a refund, repair or replacement. The remedy for consumers is described in each recall announcement.

Here are several easy ways:

• Subscribe to CPSC e-mail alerts. We send these alerts at the end of each business day.
• Follow CPSC @OnSafety on Twitter. CPSC posts most recalls on Twitter at the same time that we post the recall online.
• Subscribe to CPSC’s RSS feed through your e-mail or an RSS reader.
• Check CPSC.gov or SaferProducts.gov frequently.
• If you have your own website or blog, post CPSC recalls by using one of our free widgets.

All of our safety education materials are on CPSC.gov. You can search for them by topic, title, and category. All are free and many of them are available in hard copy. You can order them online by sending an e-mail to info@cpsc.gov. Please include the document number, document name and number of copies that you want in your e-mail. We create many posters in English and Spanish. We encourage you to print and post these in your communities and/or share them online.

No. CPSC-produced materials are free.

All of our safety guides are in the public domain. This means that you can reproduce them in full without permission. We only ask that you not change the materials and identify CPSC as the source of the information.

Some images on our website and within our safety guides may have been licensed for use by CPSC from a stock photography service. These images may be copyrighted. You may freely copy and distribute photographs of recalled items without permission. If you have a question about whether you can use a specific image, please use send your request using this Contact Form.

Yes, we create safety guides and safety education videos in Spanish. They are available on the Spanish page of CPSC.gov. In addition, CPSC occasionally produces materials in other languages. These are available on the relevant safety guide pages on our website.

Yes. We welcome and encourage you to report any safety concern about a consumer product through our website, SaferProducts.gov. You can also report to us by phone Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET at (800) 638-2772 or teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054. CPSC accepts reports by Fax at the toll-free phone number (855) 221-6466 and by postal mail. Fill out and mail this form in English or Spanish to:

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Attn: Reports

4330 East-West Highway

Bethesda, MD 20814

What does CPSC do with my complaint and what feedback will I get from you?

A: If you report to us through SaferProducts.gov, you will receive a confirmation e-mail from CPSC telling you that we have received your report. If you reported to us through our hotline or postal mail, you will get a letter from CPSC’s National Injury Information Clearinghouse shortly after we receive your complaint. The letter will describe how CPSC uses the information that you sent and will ask you to review the report and confirm its accuracy. At that point, you can make corrections or supply us with additional information in your reply.

If you have identified a manufacturer in your report, we send your report to the manufacturer. If you have told us that we may include your name and contact information in what we send to the manufacturer, you may receive a direct response from the company.

We may or may not investigate your product complaint. Agency staff reviews every report that is submitted. We use all reports to identify patterns of injuries and hazards and guide our regulatory work. Due to the large volume of reports received by the CPSC each year, agency staff, unfortunately, cannot investigate and respond to every report on an individual basis. As a data-driven agency, every report is important to the CPSC as we undertake additional analysis and product investigations, where appropriate.

If we decide to investigate the product you've reported to us, a CPSC investigator will contact you. (It may be a while after you have sent us your complaint.) If, based on the investigation, we decide a recall or other action is required, that action will not be made public until we issue a news release.

Yes, CPSC is a respected source for fatality and injury statistics for the thousands of products under our jurisdiction. Our published product-related injury studies are on our website. Plus, you can use our National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) to search for national injury estimates derived from sample emergency room reports. If you need information not available from either of these sources, you can request injury data from our National Injury Information Clearinghouse by calling (301) 504-7921, by e-mail to clearinghouse@cpsc.gov, by fax to (855) 221-6466 or by postal mail to

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,

National Injury Information Clearinghouse,

4330 East-West Highway,

Bethesda MD 20814

CPSC regulates thousands of types of consumer products, including many hazardous substances. These products range from dishwashers to toys, from all-terrain vehicles to art supplies, from children’s sleepwear to portable gas generators, from cigarette lighters to household chemicals. Here’s a list of regulated products for which consumer product safety rules exist.

No. We don't have jurisdiction over some categories of consumer products. They include automobiles and other on-road vehicles, tires, boats, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, food, drugs, cosmetics, pesticides, and medical devices. This list on our website directs you to the correct agency for products that are outside of our jurisdiction.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008 authorized a variety of new regulations and testing requirements for all children’s products and some non-children’s products. This page on our website guides you through how to determine whether your product needs to comply with these regulations.

CPSC requires that manufacturers and importers of children’s products certify that their products comply with mandatory rules after testing at third party laboratories whose accreditation is accepted by the CPSC. CPSC also requires manufacturers and importers of some non-children’s products to certify that their products comply with mandatory rules after testing and establishing a reasonable testing program. The CPSA outlines the prohibited actions that apply to anyone who sells, offers for sale, manufactures for sale, distributed in commerce or imports any consumer product regulated by the CPSC. Failure to comply with these prohibited acts could subject you to civil and criminal penalties.

Search for recalls by Product Category on CPSC’s recall page to see products that CPSC has recalled. This can give you a sense of the issues faced by your industry. CPSC expects consumer product-related businesses to be conversant on the issues and concerns facing your industry. You can also search for product safety reports submitted to CPSC through SaferProducts.gov. This is another valuable resource to help you monitor the types of hazards being reported about products.

Yes. All manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers regardless of size are required to report potentially hazardous products under Section 15 of the Consumer Product Safety Act. You need to report products within 24 hours of getting information that reasonably lets you know that a product harms someone or does not comply with safety rules. You can file this report in our business section of SaferProducts.gov. You can also report to us by calling CPSC’s Office of Compliance at (301) 504-7520 or by sending an e-mail to sect15@cpsc.gov.

Yes. We encourage you to register your company in the Business Portal on SaferProducts.gov. This ensures that we can get reports to you quickly and give you more time to respond to a report before it is scheduled to post on SaferProducts.gov. Notifications through SaferProducts.gov are safe and secure.

No. CPSC doesn’t have the legal authority to certify products. However, responsible companies test their products before offering them for sale. Companies selling children’s products are required to test their products and certify that their products comply with safety standards.

Yes. For additional assistance and guidance, contact our Office of Education, Global Outreach, and Small Business Ombudsman. CPSC has a Small Business Ombudsman to help small businesses understand and comply with consumer product safety regulations. Certain small batch manufacturers can use alternative testing requirements to lessen the costs associated with some third-party testing.) Larger businesses can contact us at business@cpsc.gov.

Retailers are subject to certain CPSC regulations, which are here. They are also subject to reporting requirements under Section 15 of the CPSA. In addition, manufacturers of children’s products (and certain other products) are required by law to show proof to retailers that their products comply with CPSC regulations.

Here are several easy ways:

Subscribe to CPSC e-mail alerts for businesses. We have different e-mail alerts that explain CPSC regulations to the business community;

Follow CPSC @CPSCSmallBiz on Twitter. CPSC’s Small Business Ombudsman posts updates on Twitter as new regulations are proposed and as new frequently asked questions are published on our website;

Review our explanation of the regulatory process and follow the instructions for staying informed.

In the Consumer Product Safety Act, Congress directed CPSC to protect the public “against unreasonable risks of injuries associated with consumer products.”

CPSC is an independent agency. It doesn't report to nor is it part of any other department or agency in the federal government.

The agency is headed by five commissioners nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for staggered seven-year terms. The President designates one of the commissioners as Chairman. The current Acting Chairman is Ann Marie Buerkle. For more information on the current commissioners, see their biographical information.

Here’s the agency organizational chart. The five commissioners set policy for CPSC. The Chairman is the chief administrator. The following six offices report directly to the chairman: Communications, Equal Employment & Minority Enterprise, Executive Director, General Counsel, Inspector General, and Legislative Affairs.

Yes. We encourage comments. Here’s how rulemaking works. CPSC has joined with other federal agencies to centralize rulemaking comments. Submit your comments electronically to us using the Regulations.gov website. Comments must be submitted by the date indicated on the federal register notice about a specific rule. The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules and notices of Federal agencies and organizations. Comments can also be sent to us—preferably five copies—through postal mail, hand delivery or courier to:

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